Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 15 November 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution

Socioeconomic Context: Dr. Caitriona Henchion and Mr. Niall Behan, Irish Family Planning Association

1:30 pm

Photo of Rónán MullenRónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will, and thank you for the opportunity. I have not got an answer to any of my questions. I heard an explanation that the HSE investigation came up with recommendations that the IFPA had no problem with implementing. I did not ask about that. I did not ask what they thought of the gardaí who were carrying out the investigation. What I have heard from Mr. Behan is the suggestion that some of what I have put to him is false. I want to ask him which of the issues that I have put on the record, and about which I have asked him, is false. Does he deny that on four occasions, IFPA counsellors told women to hide their abortions from their doctors? Does he deny what I said about the experienced counsellor in Dundalk, who gave the specific advice that I put on the record? Does he deny that he has never acknowledged any of these wrong practices? He thanks us for giving him the opportunity to put certain things on the record. The point here is that in four years, the IFPA never took the opportunity to explain itself, or to deny one iota of what this investigation brought to light.

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